New Delhi: Five women of a family,
including a 65-year-old, have been sentenced to a year in jail
by a Delhi court on the charge of dacoity following an
allegation against them by their neighbour in the wake of a
row over getting water from a public tanker.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Bimla Kumari jailed
65-year-old Rahmat Bee, a resident of Sangam Vihar near
Timarpur in North Delhi, and four other female members of the
family on charges of dacoity.

"They (convicts) are not hardened criminals. They are
not habitual robbers/dacoits. But the offence of dacoity has
been committed by them in a quarrel which took place on a
trivial issue of water," the court said.

The others who were jailed included Rahmat Bee`s son
Sajid Ali, 45, his wife Rukshana, 30 and his three
sister-in-laws Muslim Bano, 30, Sahin Parveen, 34 and Sabia,
33.

Besides jailing the five women, the court termed the
family`s sole male member Ali as "main accused" and sentenced
him to three years in jail.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Ali saying
the interest of justice would be met if he is dealt with "a
little severely." The five women too were imposed a fine of Rs
5,000 each.

The family had an altercation with their neighbour in
Sangam Vihar over filling their buckets in 2006 summer from
a public water tanker and in a fit of rage they ended up
entering into their neighbour`s house and creating a ruckus.

The neighbour, in turn, accused them of looting various
articles and properties from their house and named all the six
members of the family as trespassers.

They were booked by the police for committing dacoity
under section 395 of the Indian Penal Code which entails a
sentence up to life imprisonment.

The counsel for the convicts sought leniency saying there
was no one else in their family to look after their children
and a harsher view, taken by the court, would ruin their
lives.